Family searches for dog after girl bloodied in Chesterfield park

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. - Eight-year-old Sage Macauley is undergoing a series of rabies vaccinations after she was bitten by a dog at Rockwood Park in Chesterfield County.

"She has no fear, she has no stranger danger sense, she’s wide open and happy to talk to anybody especially if they have a pretty dog," Sage's mother Caitlyn explained. "I've tried, since she was three, to teach her a protocol and thank goodness it has stuck. Up until now, her asking permission to pet stranger’s dogs has kept her away from incidents like this."

Tuesday the CBS 6 Problem Solvers met with Sage and her mom at the park to talk about the incident that lead to stitches in Sage’s neck and chin and a series of rabies shots.

Saturday morning Sage was having a picnic with her dad near the dog park and was headed to the sand box to play.

She said she asked the dog's owner if she could pet his dog and he replied "yes."

"I bent down to pet the dog for a quick second," she said. "The next thing I know, the dog jumped up and bit me, it was kind of scary."

The dog's owner immediately ran off, she said.

"He didn’t even yell after me to say sorry, he didn’t even stay to check on me, he ran off!" Sage said.

"That was a really hard thing to swallow,” Caitlyn said "That someone could do that, watch something like that happen, and then just run off, not make sure the kid is OK."

Caitlyn said her family spent nearly six hours in the emergency room Saturday, and that Sage must now undergo a round of shots to make sure she cannot be infected by rabies.

Through it all, Sage has found peace and understanding.

"Luckily I got my rabies shots, and so I think he ran off because dogs with rabies that bite people can get put down, so I understand that he was scared," Sage said.

Police said so far, the dog and its owner have not been found.

Sage said the dog looked like a bull dog, with golden fur, wrinkles, a long tail, and a short boxy snout.

Her family is asking anyone who knows anything to come forward. They asked anyone who was at the park and saw or heard anything, or possibly took pictures and may have a picture with the dog and the owner in the background, to please contact Chesterfield Police.